


Tired

by TheProfessor



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2012-12-01
Packaged: 2017-11-19 23:18:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheProfessor/pseuds/TheProfessor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint is blunt. This characteristic manifests itself in sarcasm, dickishness and a painful honesty - the Avengers love him for it, they need a bit of that. Steve finds this out one sleepless 3am in the kitchen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tired

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from tumblr. <3

Clint is blunt. This characteristic manifests itself in sarcasm, dickishness and a painful honesty - the Avengers love him for it, they need a bit of that. Steve finds this out one sleepless 3am in the kitchen.

“What's up, Steve?” Clint asks, looking up from swirling a teabag, pinched between a thumb and index finger, around in his mug.

“Hm? Oh, I'm just tired.” Steve closes his eyes as he flashes a smile.

Clint doesn't move his gaze, “Tired of what?”

Steve freezes as he reaches into the fridge for something to drink. He thinks about the question for a second longer than he should, too long for an answer that would make Clint leave him alone. He grabs the milk and shuts the door.

“Want to talk about it?” Clint asks and reaches for the sugar. He likes his tea full of sugar, but does not understand the idea behind adding milk to it.

Steve says nothing and pours himself a glass of milk. Clint waits.

“I never asked to be stuck in the future.”

Clint sips at the tea. Bleh, more sugar. “Don't think of it as being stuck.”

“But I do,” Steve sets the jug down on the counter. “I had a life before, sort of. I had someone who wanted to be with me. Now I'm just a soldier out of time who knows nothing about all of this...” He gestures to the camera on the ceiling that indicates the presence of JARVIS. “...technology.”

Clint ponders these words for a minute. “You could learn, though. And no one says you'll never get a date again.”

“It's more than that!” Steve yells suddenly, turning to face the Hawk. “I had a place in the world. A place to live and to be and now I have nothing.”

“You have us,” Clint replies, stirring the tea. He should have made coffee instead.

“Oh yes, the people that S.H.I.E.L.D. paired me up with. S.H.I.E.L.D, who put me in a fake room when I woke up, because they thought I was too stupid to deal with the shock of being frozen. It's not the shock that's the problem, it's everything that comes after.”

Clint gives Steve a moment to calm down. “If anyone could deal with something like that, you could.” Steve stands a bit straighter, trying to decide if Clint is patronizing him or not. “I mean it,” he says. “I've seen you fight with people who have superior technology. You're on the same team as Tony, for fuck's sake. And you don't just keep up, you do just as much as he does. You're the strategist. You make the decisions that save people's lives.”

Steve stays quiet. Clint continues.

“I've seen you adapt since we all moved in here. You're not stupid. I think I'd probably feel lost if I was thrown seventy years into the future too. But that doesn't mean you can't make the most of it.”

Clint downs the last of his tea and stands up from the stool. Steve looks contemplative, staring down into his own cup. Clint puts his cup into the sink and claps Steve on the shoulder. “And hey, men nowadays aren't the knights in shining armor that they used to be. Lots of women would go for your old school charm.”

Steve rolls his eyes, but smiles anyway. “Thanks.”

“Any time.”


End file.
